


of the sands and skies of tatooine

by Magnolia35



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Gen, Jedi, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Tatooine (Star Wars), Tatooine Slave Culture, it’s my first work i’m sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnolia35/pseuds/Magnolia35
Summary: anakin skywalker was born of tatooine. people seem to forget slaves do not forget their ways of life easily.or,introspection on tatooine slave culture and how it may have affected a certain anakin skywalker throughout his life.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 12
Kudos: 175





	of the sands and skies of tatooine

First and foremost, Anakin Skywalker is a weapon. Others would say he’s a Jedi, a hero, a beacon of light.

Anakin knows better. He is an ex-slave and he does not forget the sands of his home world as quickly as the Jedi would like. They tell him of restraint and order, all the while emulating the other masters that the Jedi were said to have defended the weak against. He learns the ways of katas and meditation, all the while clinging ever-tighter to the teachings of Ekkreth and Depur, the wily trickster and the cruel master. 

The Jedi had told him he was free. They then thrust him into a life where he could not choose what he wore, where he lived and how he cut his hair. They even tried to take from him the sands of Tatooine, the memories of his mother. They are like no masters he has had before and yet exactly the same.

Obi-Wan is kind, the ten year old notes. The other man, Qui-Gon, is dead and burned. Anakin can feel Obi-Wan mourning through the newfound bond. He tries to help, building little things for his new Master _(and isn’t that word so bitter on his tongue?)_ and training harder than any other padawan. He learns Basic as quick as he can and grows into a teenager, angry at the world and infatuated with a girl he barely knows. Anakin calms down after a while, but it takes time. He and Obi-Wan have a bond like no other and become known across the galaxy. 

Padme Amidala is a beautiful woman. Even more than that, she is a smart one, a kind one. She is a person _(so am i, the boy from tatooine reminds himself)_. Anakin is not bothered by the secrecy that comes with their marriage. Secrecy, after all, is how life is for slaves on Tatooine. Masters are not privy to these things, to the whispered tales of Ekkreth and Depur. They will never know the rites for the ones who have moved on. That belongs to the people and the people alone. Padme is slightly more bothered, as Naboo is a place where marriage is celebrated with swathes of colour and people from everywhere. 

_(“you are anakin skywalker,” the elders whisper, “born of tatooine with the sands coursing through your veins.”)_

The clones are both a blessing and a curse. They aid the Jedi in a war against the Separatists, but it is horrifying to see men who live and breathe being mowed down while the droids just kept coming _(and hadn’t that sickened anakin, every time he did another rite for another lost comrade)_. Anakin is known as the Hero With No Fear even when he is so, so afraid. Anakin would weep into Obi-Wan’s shoulder for all the fallen, the elder consoling him as any not-father would do with his not-son. Anakin wondered when he became the master instead of the man. 

Ahsoka Tano is beautiful and _bright_. She shines in the force, answering Anakin’s snark with a quip or easy retort. She is only fourteen and she is soaked in blood from the battlefield. She, too, weeps for the men who had served under her _(and wasn’t that sickening, a fourteen year old given charge of soldiers)_. The bombing happens and a child _(for that is what she was, a child)_ is lost. Anakin mourns in more ways than one when she leaves, too betrayed from the callousness of those she had trusted.

Everything goes downhill from there. Anakin throws himself into the bloodshed, trying to drown out his guilt. He fails to notice Palpatine becoming more powerful, more cruel, more obvious. Padmé tries to warn him and he brushes her off, so angry and guilty he is. He wakes up night after night in a cold sweat, his wife’s screams echoing in his ears. He doesn’t stop to rest, to think _(and maybe had he stopped she would have lived, he reflects)_. Obi-Wan and Anakin grow further apart, too wrung-out from the war to ever simply talk. Life becomes the clash of ‘sabers and the screams of men as they die. Then there is Grievous’ ship and the Chancellor goading him on and _oh god his hands aren’t even covered in blood so why can’t he get them clean-_

It’s a blur after that. They return to the Jedi temple and Obi-Wan can’t look him in the eyes. The Chancellor reveals himself to Anakin and Anakin knows what he _should_ do but this is his friend and he could save Padmé. Anakin calls the Jedi but he cannot, will not let them kill Palpatine _(“it is treason then”)_ and then Mace is flying out the window and there’s lightning and he’s kneeling and-

Mustafar. He’s trying to hurt, to _kill_ Obi-Wan and how is Padmé here and he’s choking her and he’s on fire and- _(I hate you!)_ Why is Obi-Wan crying and oh god Padmé the baby-

He killed her, Palpatine tells him. In his anger.

Vader has forgotten the ways of Tatooine, the sand that courses through his veins. He kneels before another master, one who is just like the others. He kills and enforces for his master, doing what Anakin Skywalker had promised to never do. He serves in a broken Empire, becoming a slaver in his own right. It is far too easy to ignore the suffering of others and the promise of a ten year old boy to free all the slaves one day. Then there is a girl who looks just like Padmé but with ~~Anakin’s~~ _Skywalker’s_ spirit and she’s escaped and the Death Star’s is blown to bits by a smuggler and a princess and a boy named _Luke Skywalker_. 

A boy with eyes like the sky and hair like the dunes of Tatooine. Vader pushes his master back and finally, _finally_ is free. The boy smiles and holds out a hand. “Let me see you with my own eyes,” Vader- no, _Anakin_ pleads. He dies in his son’s arms and his body is burned on a pyre. People across the galaxy rejoice at the fall of an empire and Anakin wonders if anyone did the Tatooine slave rites for him. He is fading fast and the force is calling. 

_(“welcome home,” sings the force, and anakin is finally at peace.)_

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is my first work on here please be merciful.
> 
> yes i’m a sucker for tatooine slave culture how did you guess
> 
> please comment, comments bring me life


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